P3WIN presenters share personal perspectives on the importance of their initiative.

P3 Conference leadership recognizes there is a gender gap that continues to present challenges in promoting women within the P3 community. Thus, the Women’s Initiative Network (P3WIN) was born. This network is meant to provide a platform to help discuss best practices and encourage information sharing as it relates to the current gender gap within the profession in an effort to better promote the roles of women within our evolving community.

Strategies+ was able to connect with three of the five P3WIN presenters to gather their personal perspectives on the importance of the initiative.

How do you feel P3WIN is helpful to women in the P3 community?

Amanda Brady (AB): The benefit of P3WIN stems from the very fact that P3WIN is a community (women professionals) within a community (P3) within a community (legal industry) that has unique characteristics as compared to the larger business community. P3WIN can ideally help women navigate through these different layers of business to ensure they maximize their value within their selected field of expertise while expanding ― not limiting ― their future professional options.

Purvi Sanghvi (PS): P3WIN was created to help women connect with each other to find a network for career and professional growth. A lot of us are flying solo in our fields within our employers and it’s helpful to have a sanity check — this is an extension of why some of us created the P3 community to begin with. Not all of us are lucky to work with inspiring female leaders, so I wanted to create a network where it wasn’t left up to luck or chance for someone to find a mentor.

Lisa Konie (LK): It is so important to realize that your struggles and challenges are not dealt with by you alone. By connecting women in the P3 community and sharing stories, participants realize they have a community to leverage. They have other women who can share and offer guidance. This camaraderie is critical, and P3WIN is the lynchpin there.

Tell us why mentorship is important to you and why you think someone should participate in the Client Value SIG’s P3WIN movement.

AB: In my view, mentor/mentee relationships provide the greatest benefit when both parties begin to understand where each other is coming from and feel comfortable speaking freely and openly. Honesty and candor, certainly combined with compassion and tact, are critical to developing and maintaining successful mentor/mentee relationships.

The P3WIN movement provides a safe forum in which to discuss big ideas and big issues that likely face every woman in the industry at some level. And by putting things on the table instead of pretending disparities do not exist, we can hopefully continue to move our industry and national culture along this continuum of progress, equal opportunity and compensation parity. If nothing else, participating in a larger discussion helps us all learn to articulate our concerns and communicate ideas on how to effect change.

PS: Mentorship is important to me because it’s vital to create opportunities for those who are starting out. I am fortunate to have mentors whom I can call anytime to help me with career advice, and I know that not everyone has a network to reach out to. It’s time for me to pay it forward. For those who are just starting out, it might not be natural or instinctive to seek out a mentor, and I would like everyone in the P3WIN community to benefit from our collective knowledge and experience.

LK: Mentoring, when done right, creates a safe environment to expose yourself in ways that can contribute to massive gains, personally and professionally. I think someone should participate, because they can be enduring relationships that benefit both parties. While the mentee might feel they are just taking, it is always a win-win, give and take. No question or topic should be off limits.

Tune in to the P3WIN panel live on Tuesday, May 15, starting at 5:15 p.m. on Facebook Live.